Maintenance Splash & Countdown Plugin for WordPress
WORDPRESS
PLUGIN
free
Put the front end behind a 503 maintenance page with a live countdown to the reopening time, while signed-in administrators keep browsing.
A single switch puts your site behind a maintenance page while you work on it. Visitors get a real 503 response with a Retry-After header, a live countdown to the time you set, and — if you want — a contact line. Signed-in administrators keep browsing the site normally, and wp-login.php is never blocked, so you can always get back in.
Everything is edited on one screen under Settings > DF Maintenance: the heading, the message, the reopening time, the countdown switch, the administrator bypass, a contact line and the accent colour. When you untick the switch the site is public again immediately — there is no cache to clear and nothing to undo.
The splash is a single self-contained page with no external fonts, scripts or images, so it renders correctly even when the rest of the site is mid-upgrade.
Everything is edited on one screen under Settings > DF Maintenance: the heading, the message, the reopening time, the countdown switch, the administrator bypass, a contact line and the accent colour. When you untick the switch the site is public again immediately — there is no cache to clear and nothing to undo.
The splash is a single self-contained page with no external fonts, scripts or images, so it renders correctly even when the rest of the site is mid-upgrade.
Preview
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The maintenance page as a visitor sees it, countdown running⤢ Tap image for full size
What's included
- One checkbox in Settings > DF Maintenance puts the site behind the splash; unticking it makes the site public again immediately.
- Sends a real 503 status with a Retry-After header, so search engines treat the site as temporarily down rather than broken.
- Reopening time becomes a live countdown, and the same time is written into Retry-After.
- Your heading, message, contact line and accent colour — all editable in wp-admin, no files to touch.
- wp-login.php stays reachable while the splash is on, and signed-in administrators keep browsing normally.
At a glance
| Platform | WordPress plugin |
|---|---|
| Latest version | v1.1.1 |
| Download size | 17.9 KB |
| Released | 25 Oct 2026 |
| Downloads | 0 |
| Access | Free — sign in to download |
| Install | upload the zip and activate |
| Settings | Settings > DF Maintenance |
| Database | none — one option row, deleted on uninstall |
| Requests | none — the splash is a single self-contained page with no external fonts or scripts |
| Licence | GPL-2.0-or-later |
Requirements
- WordPress 6.2 or newer, PHP 7.4 or newer. Tested on WordPress 7.1.3.
Checksum
Verify your download before you upload it to your board.
aa7c9b289609293dbe972abe3b34118332e98a7185e9c935f99cd4a9f24161b9Install it
1. Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, choose df-maintenance-splash-1.1.1-4115146d.zip, Install Now, then Activate.
2. Open Settings > DF Maintenance, write your message, set a reopening time and tick "Show the maintenance page to visitors".
3. Visitors get a 503 with a countdown; you keep browsing because administrators are allowed through.
4. wp-login.php is never blocked, so you can always sign in and untick the switch.
5. To remove it: Deactivate, then Delete. The option row goes with it.
2. Open Settings > DF Maintenance, write your message, set a reopening time and tick "Show the maintenance page to visitors".
3. Visitors get a 503 with a countdown; you keep browsing because administrators are allowed through.
4. wp-login.php is never blocked, so you can always sign in and untick the switch.
5. To remove it: Deactivate, then Delete. The option row goes with it.
Questions people ask
Q: Will I lock myself out?
A: No. wp-login.php is left reachable and administrators are allowed through by default, so you can always sign in and untick the switch.
Q: What do search engines see?
A: A 503 with a Retry-After header — the signal for "temporarily unavailable, come back later". It does not remove your pages from the index.
Q: Does the countdown need JavaScript?
A: The ticking does. Without scripting the page still shows the remaining time as it was when the page was generated, which is accurate to the minute.
Q: Does it work with a page cache plugin?
A: The splash is sent before your theme renders and is marked not-cacheable. When you switch maintenance off, clear your page cache plugin if it stores full pages.
Q: Does it send anything anywhere?
A: No external requests at all — no fonts, no scripts, no update checks.
Q: Is anything left behind when I delete it?
A: No. The option row is removed by uninstall.php.
All releases
| Version | Released | Size | Downloads | Changelog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.1.1 latest | 25 Oct 2026 | 17.9 KB | 0 | 1.1.1 - Re-verified on WordPress 7.1.3 with PHP 8.4: installed, activated and exercised on a clean bench (front end, settings screen, the plugin's own behaviour) with WP_DEBUG on. No notices, warnings, deprecations or errors. readme.txt now declares Tested up to 7.1.3. |
| v1.1.0 | 25 Oct 2026 | 19.2 KB | 1 | Rebuilt as a complete plugin (1.1.0): a real settings screen under Settings > DF Maintenance, a proper uninstall.php, a text domain, a readme and GPL-2.0-or-later in the header. The countdown is now real: the reopening time you set becomes a live timer and the Retry-After header. Added the administrator bypass switch, the contact line and the accent colour. wp-login.php, wp-admin, AJAX and WP-Cron are never blocked. Empty heading or message fall back to defaults instead of rendering a blank page. |
| v1.0.0 | 24 Oct 2026 | 13.1 KB | 1 | - First ForumCrafts release of this plugin. - Built for the platform version listed on the product page. |
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